IL Blues Magazine, Italy

Is there a blues drummer in Chicago you admire? He replies: “Yes, my son!” This is how Willie “Big Eyes” Smith expressed himself in the interview he gave us years ago in Castel San Pietro In Blues (Il Blues n. 89). And it wasn’t just a father’s words, Kenny’s talent is unquestionable, they speak for him the many collaborations in the studio and live with musicians and groups of different generations and settings. In his new work, the first true and proper as a soloist, Kenny tries to take one more step, besides playing, he produces and composes all twelve tracks, using them to put them into the music of an extended group. He records it for his label called “Big Eyes” in homage to his father, who died in 2011, trying to find less traditional sounds, at least in a good half of the songs, a groove in which the skeleton is made up of percussion/drums, also electronic, bass (the expert Felton Crews) and a trio of singers. The title song, with hints of restrained funk or “Living Fast”, goes in this direction, perhaps to show that you don’t limit yourself to re-propose the past but try to move the axis forward while retaining some blues element. Still “One Big Frown”, sung by Kimberly Johnson, with tones close to rock, with the guest guitar of Nelson Strange. But it also proposes episodes in the full wake of the Chicago blues, like it.

 

From IL Blues Magazine.Italy